The Importance of Writing Your Blog Posts Ahead of Time
We all know the importance of writing regular blog posts, how important it is to keep a regular schedule. But few people talk about how to do this. The reality is that you need to get ahead of yourself, you need to write some of your posts before you’ll need to publish them to meet your regular schedule.
For the longest time I would write posts just in time. That is I would write and publish them the same day, or within a day. This worked well but I wasn’t nearly as consistent as I am today. Some weeks I would post new entries almost every day, then a week would go by with only one entry. As a general rule of thumb, I always wrote at least one entry a week, but it wasn’t terribly consistent.
That was ok when I was starting, like everyone else I had few readers initially. However as I’ve grown I’ve noticed more and more the importance of consistency in posting. These days I write at least 2-3 posts per week. You don’t have to write at that frequency, but what I strongly suggest is that you pick a regular blogging schedule, one that you can live with, and stick to it.
That being said, the reality is that you can’t consistently write your posts week after week. Things happen. That little thing called life. But that doesn’t mean I still can’t post regularly. As a professional that’s not acceptable. You need to accept that you can’t write every day and find a solution. And that solution is to write as many posts as you can in advance.
Preparation is key. Prepare for when you have no time. Prepare for when you don’t have the motivation. Prepare for when you’re sick. Prepare prepare prepare!
And so I strongly suggest you write posts ahead of time. I currently try to keep at least 1-3 weeks written ahead of time. Since I’ve started doing this things have been running much more smoothly. For example, although many of you probably didn’t realize it, in the last 2-3 weeks I’ve only really written one or two posts! All the others were pre-written beforehand. And it’s a good thing!
Towards the end of January I was extremely busy trying to finish up the blogging book I’m writing (Interviews with the Pros: What does it take to create a Successful Blog?). It’s kept me extremely busy. Not only that, but I’ve been writing a lot for the book: The Preface, the Introduction, the Epilogue, etc. Needless to say what little time I had left, which was pretty much nothing, I wasn’t really interested in writing any more. If I hadn’t pre-written several posts ahead of time there would have been very few posts in the last few weeks, and what I would have posted would probably have been of lower quality. Something nobody wants, not me nor you.
At this point I’ve only got a few more pre-written posts so I need to start catching up again. And obviously this week I’ve slowed down a little in posting because of that, I will only published 2-3 posts this week. but that’s mostly because this week is also extremely busy for me for other reasons. For example tonight I’m giving a presentation to a passive income investment club (MyOpic) on revenue generating sources for a blog/website (being on both sides as a publisher and advertiser I have lots to tips to share).
In any case, a very big tip I can give you is that you should plan and prepare your blog ahead of time for when your life gets busier. It’s not a matter of if you’ll get too busy, it’s a matter of when. If you’re well prepared then things will go very smoothly and no one will notice.
· February 7th, 2008 · 6:37 am · Permalink
Hi Steph. 2 questions:
How do you come up with ideas of posts?
Has the MyOpic club a website (ie will you presentation be online?). It’s something I would be interested in.
· February 7th, 2008 · 1:01 pm · Permalink
Hi Anthony,
Please find the answers below:
1. How do you come up with ideas of posts?
That’s a really good question. And honestly from a lot of different sources. Looking at the last few pages of my blog, here’s some examples of where I got the inspiration for some of my latest posts.
Most of my ideas do come from my own direct experiences running my company LandlordMax and writing this blog. All the things I’ve tried, I’ve learned, etc.
Examples include:
https://www.followsteph.com/2008/02/07/the-importance-of-writing-your-blog-posts-ahead-of-time/
https://www.followsteph.com/2007/12/16/2-very-simple-ways-to-significantly-increase-your-productivity/
https://www.followsteph.com/2007/11/21/12-tips-on-how-to-prepare-your-laptop-for-a-presentation/
https://www.followsteph.com/2007/11/12/yours-truly-is-in-the-press-again/
https://www.followsteph.com/2007/10/10/what-is-scope-creep/
After that, I get a lot of ideas from keeping up with the blogosphere. Seeing what people are saying. What catches my attention.
Examples include:
https://www.followsteph.com/2007/12/31/be-the-best-at-something-instead-of-average-at-a-lot-of-things/
https://www.followsteph.com/2007/09/30/developer-debt/
And after that, books can be a great source of inspiration. They generally go deeper into a topic, which makes you think more. This is where a lot of my more detailed analysis come from.
Examples include:
https://www.followsteph.com/2008/01/02/now-thats-motivation/
https://www.followsteph.com/2007/12/28/another-record-for-this-housing-market-crash/
https://www.followsteph.com/2007/10/16/306/
As well, there’s all the discussion I have with other people. I pay careful attention to what people are saying, how I respond, etc. Lots of great ideas come from here.
Examples include:
https://www.followsteph.com/2008/01/21/whats-the-secret-how-do-you-have-time-to-do-all-that/
And lastly, I just keep my eye open to what’s around me. Things I see. Things I experience.
Examples include:
https://www.followsteph.com/2008/01/23/12-search-engine-optimizations-seo-you-should-always-do/
https://www.followsteph.com/2008/01/11/why-coupon-codes-are-bad-on-websites/
https://www.followsteph.com/2008/01/08/hd-dvd-versus-blu-ray-from-the-consumers-perspective/
https://www.followsteph.com/2007/11/16/free-business-idea/
· February 7th, 2008 · 2:43 pm · Permalink
Hi Anthony,
I just realized I forgot to answer your second question. MyOpic is a local area passive income club that can only be joined by invitation (MyOpic stands for My Ottawa Passive Investment Club), it’s not publicly marketed. The group usually meets once a month on the first week of the month. Each month there’s a different presentation given, either by a member or by a guest speaker (it varies depending on the topic). The presentations aren’t available online.
However you can visit the discussion forum at: https://www.learningcentre.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=13 Here you’ll find that there is some discussion about the meetings, etc. Sometimes people follow-up on some of the discussions. Unfortunately if you haven’t attended, some of the threads may not make as much sense.
The members also have other discussions on the main forum located at: https://www.learningcentre.com/forums/index.php which you might be interested in…
· February 8th, 2008 · 6:03 am · Permalink
Hi Steph,
Thanks for this. Your answer made me think of this article on the NYT website:
https://tinyurl.com/29unqh
The guy says (towards the bottom of the 1st page of the article):
“I tell my agents to assume that every customer is their mother or father”
It looks like that’s what you already do. If you spend as much time answering the questions of your customers as you do it here on your blog, I’m not surprised they like your customer service!
Going back to your answers, I would be careful with ‘keeping up with the blogosphere’. I read a few blogs on a regular basis and sometimes I can’t help but think that some bloggers are just copying others (a blogger would post about a given subject and suddenly other bloggers would do the same for no particular reasons). When this happens, I feel a bit cheated.
As for MyOpic, being based in the UK, it will be difficult to attend. Looks interesting though.
· February 10th, 2008 · 5:09 pm · Permalink
Hi Anthony,
You’ll be interested to hear that the blog article coming out tomorrow is a direct result of our discussion. I just wanted to thank you for the idea 🙂
And thank you.
As for keeping up with the blogosphere I couldn’t agree more. Get inspired don’t regurgitate. Don’t respond, create. Too many people just repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat ad nauseum what everyone else is saying. That’s the last thing you want to do. I absolutely agree.
It’s too bad you’re in the UK. It is an interesting group. But just because it’s over here, doesn’t mean you can’t start your own 😉
· February 11th, 2008 · 5:17 am · Permalink
Looking forward to reading it!
· February 11th, 2008 · 8:28 am · Permalink
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